Credit-card spending back on the rise

Is it a sign that we're going back to our old ways of spending money that we didn't have or have
we as consumers learned our lessons from the brutual recession about the damage that too much debt
can cause?

A recent survey has found that a majority of bankers expect credit-card balances to increase
over the next months. That's on top of Federal Reserve data showing that credit-card debt growing
as its fastest pace in a year.

Both are signs are the consumers are becoming more optimistic and that's good for the
economy.

But despite the growth, consumers are doing a good job of handling the debt -- at least so far.
The American Bankers Association reports that the delinquency rate on credit cards is at its lowest
level since 1990 and only a quarter of the bankers surveyed by FICO and the Professional Risk
Managers' International Association expect delinquencies to rise.